Tie A Big Blue Ribbon 'Round The Old Sakura Tree
by SilverYaoiHellion
Summary: Joey has to go to college in the U.S. for 4 yrs, and he has to leave Seto behind. On the day that Joey left, he told Seto that when he returns in 4 yrs, that if he sees a blue ribbon tied around their tree he will know that Seto still wants him. When Joey


This is a Yu-Gi-Oh story. Warnings are Shounen-Ai, AU (not as seen on T.V.), OOC, Crossover with a song (not a song fic really), M-preg., mentions of Abuse and Rape, One-shot. I was listening to an oldies radio station when this idea came to me, from that sappy happy song 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round The Old Oak Tree'; then the same day I was watching an old rerun of a television show and this song came up again; so I just hopped on my computer and started typing, hope you like it. Not everything in this story is based off that dumb song; you'll see if you read.

Summary: Joey has to go off to America for college for four years; he can't come back during any breaks and has to leave Seto behind. With no way to contact each other because of Joey's strict family back on U.S. soil; Joey has an idea. He tells Seto after four years when he comes back, if he sees a big blue ribbon around the Sakura tree at the park, that will be enough to tell him that Seto still loves him. Now, four years later, Joey has made Yugi promise that he would tell Seto of his arrival back home; and he's nervous about what the Sakura tree would look like. Will there be a ribbon? Or will Joey end up with a broken heart?

Pairings: Joey/Seto, Yami/Bakura; mentions of Yugi/Ryou and Duke/Tristan.

* * *

Tie a Big Blue Ribbon 'Round the Old Sakura Tree

Joey, Seto, and the rest of the gang stood outside an airport terminal as they awaited the last minutes of boarding of Joey's plane. They hated to see Joey go, but Joey had no choice but to go. It was a miracle that Joey was accepted into the college that he signed up for and when his mother found out, she wasn't going to let Joey pass up that chance, even if he wanted to.

She hated the relationship that Joey had with Seto and that was the main reason she was shipping Joey off to America, to keep her son away from the CEO. Joey and Seto knew that Joey being shipped off to America was one of her attempts, and they feared that that one would work. She had tried many times to break the two up and nothing ever worked; but, none of them included Joey having to go hundreds of miles away. And to make everything even worse, most of Joey's family were in on it; they were going to try everything in their power to keep poor Seto from seeing or talking to Joey. The four years that they were staying apart, was truly going to test the love they had for each other.

"I'm going to miss you big brother!" Serenity said as she hugged her brother. Serenity was one of the only family members that accepted the relationship between the two, her and a few cousins in California and Philadelphia; but Joey wasn't going to any of those states, he was going to New York.

Joey was an awesome artist and wanted to pursue a career in art. Seto many times tried to tell Joey that with him he didn't need a college degree to pursue a career in art, but Joey wanted to break into a career by himself and told Seto it was for the best. Needless to say, that left Seto slightly heartbroken and feeling helpless to save their relationship.

Everyone crowded around Joey, hugging him, kissing his cheek, wishing him luck, and saying their goodbyes. Everyone except for Seto, Seto felt that that would be the last day of their relationship; for the next four years, they wouldn't see or hear each other. The gang would tell Seto what Joey would tell them, since Joey's family wasn't blocking off contact between Joey and his friends, for they weren't aware of what relations his friends had.

When everyone moved away from Joey, he made his way over to Seto. He turned to the others.

"Hey guys, can you give me and Seto a couple minutes?" Joey asked his friends.

Everyone nodded and walked away to give the couple some privacy.

Joey took a hold of Seto's hand and brought it up to his lips to place a kiss on it. Seto looked down at Joey with sad eyes; Joey looked up back into his lover's eyes and sighed.

"Seto, I'll be back in four years." Joey said.

"That's too long!" Seto hissed, then he calmed a little. "Four whole years Joey; what if one, or even both of us find someone new?"

"I don't want anyone new." Joey said. "I only want you. Besides, when I come back in four years, we'll both be two new people to each other."

Seto smiled slightly at that thought; four years was a lot of time to mature, he couldn't imagine what Joey would look like, **if** he came back.

Knowing what Seto was thinking, Joey reached up and grabbed a hold of Seto's chin; making him look right into his eyes.

"I **will** come back." Joey said. "I swear that on my own soul."

Over the intercom, a woman's voice said that Joey's plane would be taking off in ten minutes.

Joey looked into his lover's eyes and tried to remember every special moment he had with Seto so far; then, an idea popped up into his head.

"Seto, you remember that Sakura tree in Domino Park, don't you?" Joey asked.

Seto looked down at his lover as if he was crazy.

"Of course I remember that tree." Seto said. "That's where we shared our first kiss, our very first time together…" A slight blush covered Seto's cheeks.

Joey smiled at the fact that his lover still remembered the tree's importance to their relationship, he just hoped his lover would remember how much more important that tree would be after what he was about to say.

"Well, when I come back in four years…" Joey said. "The first place I'll go to is the park, to our tree."

Seto looked down weirdly at his lover.

"Why?" Seto asked.

"Because, I want you to prove your love to me." Joey said.

"How?" Seto asked.

"I want you to tie a big blue ribbon 'round that tree." Joey said. "That ribbon will be the proof that you still love me. If it's not there, then I'll understand that you no longer want to be with me, and I'll move on with my life without you."

Seto hated that plan, yet loved it so much at the same time.

The lady over the intercom said that there was five minutes remaining for the flight.

Joey reached up behind Seto's head and pulled him down, slowly and gently, he kissed Seto's lips; Seto kissed back softly, not wanting to stop, but he knew that it would have to stop. Joey pulled away and kissed Seto's cheeks and forehead, then looked into Seto's eyes again.

Seto tried to say something, but Joey reached up with his other hand and placed his finger at Seto's lips.

"This isn't goodbye…" Joey said. "We'll see each other soon." With that, Joey turned away and walked away. With some last hugs and kisses from his friends and family, Joey walked to the lady at the plane door. He handed her his ticket and turned to look at Seto one last time for a long time; he studied every part of Seto's body with his eyes, just like Seto was doing to him.

"I love you…" Seto mouthed as tears came to his eyes, but they didn't fall.

"I love you too…" Joey mouthed back, then he turned and walked through the doorway to the plane.

And thus, began the true test of their love.

* * *

Four Years Later…

Joey sat in the plane that saw flying him back to his true home, Japan. Hard to believe that it had been four years. He finished college and was already planning to open a small business back home; a couple of his college buddies would be joining him in a few months after they were done with everything at their homes.

Over the years, Joey had of course matured. He reached a tall height of 6'5" thanks to two sets of growth spurts that he had had during college. He just started to let his hair grow a little longer; he was now able to tie it into a little loose ponytail at the nape of his neck. He was a bit of a bodybuilder, his body held a bulky yet lean build. But, as Joey sat in the plane, he could only think about what his hopefully still lover looked like; and what everyone else looked like.

He thought of all the changes he had heard of through letters from his friends and sister. What he had found was that Yami and Bakura had become a couple while he was in college, and married; a couple of months after the wedding, Bakura found that he was pregnant. Yugi was currently dating Ryou. Serenity was in her last year of high school and became quite the beauty, he only received pictures of her through the mail, his friends remained a mystery to him; after witnessing the evolution of his little sister by film, he made a critical note for himself to keep an eye out for perverted boys. Duke and Tristan were engaged to marry and asked Joey to be their best man, of course Joey agreed.

As Joey thought of the weddings that had and were about to occur between his friends, he toyed with a little box in his pocket secretly hoping that it would soon happen to him.

'Please, still love me Seto.' Joey thought as he looked out his window. 'I can't live without you.'

* * *

Two hours later…

Joey yawned as he walked through the doorway into the airport terminal; he nodded to the flight attendant wishing him a good day and went on his way. He looked around the airport for Yugi, who said in a letter that he would be there to pick him up.

"Joey, over here!" A voice said.

Joey immediately knew that that wasn't Yugi, the voice sounded deep and British; he turned his head and smiled when he saw Yami and Bakura waving at him. He waved and quickly rushed over to them; his smile widened when he saw that pump belly that Bakura had on him.

Over the years the couple hadn't changed much, the only change Joey could see was that Bakura was pregnant and that his hair reached well past his down his waist, also the beautiful ring he had on his ring finger that consisted of a platinum band an a beautiful ruby. Yami looked the exact same as he did the day he left.

"Hey guys!" Joey said as he hugged Bakura.

Bakura chuckled and kissed Joey's cheek; between Yami and Joey, they just settled with a handshake.

"We have to get your luggage before it takes forever." Bakura said to Joey as he started to walk, more like waddle. Joey and Yami were right behind him. "How have you been doing Joey?" Was the first of Bakura's questions.

* * *

Thirty minutes later…

The trio had just exited the airport with Joey's three suitcases and headed over to their car, Yami's car really. Joey whistled when he saw it.

Yami's car was a high tech purple convertible, it was a beauty. At the sides were orange and red flame designs and the rims were chrome.

"Yami, where the hell do you work!" Joey asked as he looked at the car.

"I work as Seto's assistant." Yami said.

Joey's head snapped up at the mentioning of Seto's name; then he faced Bakura, who was a good friend of Seto's.

"Yes, I made Yami take the job that Seto offered when he found I was pregnant." Bakura said. "I didn't want to burden the others any further and we moved out when Yami got the job, the greatest thing I ever made Yami do." He glared at his husband.

Yami reluctantly nodded in agreement, so his seven month pregnant love won't throw a fit at the airport, or in general, in public.

Joey laughed and opened the door to the backseats when Yami beeped it open with the key chain controller.

"Yugi told us that the first place you wanted to go before any other place was the park." Bakura said. "May I ask why?"

"Just something I really need to see before anything else." Joey said.

Yami helped Bakura into the passenger side as Joey settled into the backseat; Yami rushed over to the driver's seat and in a minute, they were off.

All the way, Joey's hand was in his pocket.

* * *

From the airport to the park was about a twenty minute ride. Bakura had fallen into a fitful sleep and all was quiet.

"We're here…" Yami whispered.

"Thanks…" Joey whispered. "Can you do me a favor and just drop off my stuff at my place?"

"I don't have the key." Yami whispered.

Joey reached into his duffle bag and pulled out a key ring that held two keys, he pulled one off and handed it to Yami.

"How will you get home?" Yami asked.

"I'll walk…" Joey whispered. "I'd like to see if anything around town changed."

Yami nodded in understanding and Joey opened the door slowly and quietly and got out, softly closing the door behind him. Yami drove off after waving bye to Joey; Joey waved back and went into the park, down the very familiar brick pathway.

* * *

As Joey walked, he soon found that he took a detour from where he was supposed to be going and just walking around the park. After a few moments, he found himself at one of the children's playgrounds and looked around at the families.

There was one young family, which consisted of a pair of seemingly young parents with a couple of kids running around them. They were all laughing and having a great time together. That was something that Joey hoped to have with Seto, if he still wanted to be together. Four years, four whole entire years since Joey had last seen or heard from Seto; and that day he was standing in the park, would determine one of the biggest parts of his future.

Continuing his walking, Joey decided that he would take the long way to the Sakura tree; he wanted to delay seeing the tree for a while longer.

As he walked, he smiled at the memory of why that tree was so important to both him and Seto.

**Flashback**

Joey was walking through the park on his way home after serving a few community service hours. He was helping other students keep an eye on children from a local daycare center, the playground at the center was being renovated, so the only option the kids had was the local park; the workers put up flyers at the school requesting students to come keep an eye on the kids, in exchange for hours. He jumped at the chance for easy hours and was there earlier than needed ready for the kids. He had a good time and was in a good mood, until he heard something. Straining his hearing, he found that the sound was of soft sobs.

He began to follow the sobbing and soon came to a large Sakura tree; he stopped when he saw a figure sitting underneath it. The figure had its back to it and it took a moment to notice a long beige trench coat.

'Kaiba!' Joey thought as he listened to the broken sobs. 'What is he crying about?'

Joey found himself thinking two things, turn away and pretend he didn't see anything, or go up to Kaiba and ask him what's wrong. After about two minutes, Joey started to walk slowly towards Seto. He watched as the CEO's shoulders shook with sobs. Slowly, he walked up to him.

He was extremely surprised when Seto whirled around jumping to his knees; Joey jumped back in shock and stumbled backwards to the ground onto his ass. He looked on as Seto glared at him with puffy red eyes.

"What do you want Wheeler!" Seto snarled.

Joey looked into Seto's eyes, the emotion that he was feeling at that moment flashed in his eyes clear as day at that moment, sadness and anger.

"Uh, I wanted to see what you were crying about." Joey said.

Seto's glare strengthened and he jumped to his feet, he whipped away his tears and turned away walking. Joey quickly got up and rushed after him; then he was surprised again, only he surprised himself; he reached over to Seto's arm and grabbed a hold of his wrist.

Seto stopped immediately and looked down at his arm to see Joey's hand holding him.

"Let go…" Seto whispered.

Joey pulled on Seto's arm and moved towards him, slowly he stood up behind Seto and wrapped his arms around him, he still had a grip on Seto's wrist. He didn't know why he was doing that, but what he was doing just felt so right, he felt that he had to do that, that he had to be there with Seto for some reason. He placed his chin on Seto's shoulder and whispered into his ear.

"Let's go back to the tree and deal with this rationally…" Joey whispered. "I won't leave you alone till we do."

Seto's body started to shake; Joey could tell that Seto was crying again. Seto leaned back onto Joey and Joey kept his hold on Seto. Gently, Joey moved around till he had his one of his arms behind Seto's knees and easily lifted him up; he was concerned on how little Seto weighed, but more concerned about Seto's crying. Seto continued to cry quietly and laid his head on Joey's shoulder.

Joey walked back to the tree and sat down at the trunk with Seto one his lap.

"Now, will you please tell me what you're so upset about?" Joey asked.

Seto looked up into Joey's eyes, then turned away, blushing. Very quietly, he mumbled something; Joey heard the mumble, but didn't catch what Seto was saying.

"What?" Joey asked.

"I said that my boyfriend cheated on and left me." Seto said a little louder, that time it was a sort of whisper that Joey still had to strain to hear; his crying stopped completely.

"You're…" Joey never got to finish.

"I'm a bi…" Seto said.

Just then Seto's cell phone rang.

"It's him…" Seto whispered, sounding a little afraid.

Joey reached into Seto's pocket and took the cell phone, pressed a button on it deleting the call, and threw it away, far away. From the distance, the couple could here the distinct sound of breaking hard plastic.

Before Seto could snap at Joey for destroying his cell phone, Joey said something that shut him up immediately.

"He beats you, doesn't he?" Joey declared more than asked.

Seto looked up at Joey with wide eyes, deer caught in the headlight eyes.

"How did you…" Seto tried to say.

"My father used to beat my mother when they were still married." Joey said. "At the time, I wasn't able to read body language or listen closely enough to someone's voice to understand what was going on. After a couple of years after my parents divorced, I started to understand. The tone of voice you had when he called told me everything, and possibly then some."

Seto looked to the ground, ashamed that someone found out one of his deepest secrets in such a short amount of time; and possibly about to find out something even deeper than that.

"He does more than just beat you too." Joey said, holding Seto a little tighter. "But I'm not going to force you to tell me everything; I just want to be able to help you as much as you want me to."

Seto looked at Joey, his eyes untrusting to him.

"You want to help me after all I did to you?" Seto asked. "Why?"

"Because, with an asshole boyfriend like yours, you're probably going to need help or you'll try to kill yourself." Joey said. "You have a brother at home that loves and needs you."

Seto's eyes started to water again as he looked up at Joey, he laid his head back on Joey's shoulder and Joey started to rub his back. A few moments later, Joey placed a kiss at Seto's cheek. Seto blushed at he kiss, but did something else that surprised both him and Joey. He lifted his head and kissed Joey's lips.

The kiss was soft, and needy. Joey kissed back gently so he wouldn't startle Joey. After a moment, the pair broke out of their kiss. Seto leaned his head forward into Joey's head.

"I think I love you…" Seto whispered.

"I know I love you…" Joey whispered back to Seto; then took his lips into another gentle kiss.

That night, was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

* * *

During the first few weeks of their relationship, Joey and Seto kept it a secret from everyone. That was until Yugi caught the pair making out in the back of the school. Soon, everyone was a little disappointed at the pair when they found that they had a relationship going and never told them; they all knew it was eventually going to happen, they just didn't know it was going to happen so soon.

Joey tried to get Seto to open up a little about the abuse he suffered during his relationship with his ex boyfriend; the most Seto told him was about the constant abuse he went through, and that his boyfriend raped him on occasion. The Yamis somehow found out about that; Seto knew that Joey didn't tell anyone, but along with Joey wondered how they found out. The Yamis offered to send the creep ex boyfriend to the Shadow Realm; though flattered that the offer and thought of that, Seto reluctantly decided to let the bastard live; after that, the Yamis made him promise that if any problems ever occurred with the bastard, to tell them immediately.

As the relationship between Joey and Seto strengthened, so did the friendship between Seto and the rest of the gang. He often hung out with the gang and found everyone to be awesome friends; he wished that he had accepted their friendship earlier because all of them knew about his previous relationship and tried their best to help him let go of the grief, he was thankful for all they did.

Their relationship went on for only two years before that letter came in the mail telling Joey that he had been accepted to one of the main universities that he wanted to go to. Seto was extremely happy for him, and Joey was more than excited; then his mother started setting boundaries; soon, Seto was still happy for Joey, but didn't want him to go. Joey felt that going to college would help him greatly, and he wanted to go into his choice of career his own way; hating the fact that he broke Seto's heart when he said that he had to go.

Even at that time, Joey had his doubts about their relationship failing over the years; but he kept a strong front for Seto.

**Flashback Ends**

* * *

Joey had been walking around avoiding the tree for nearly fifteen minutes, he stopped in his walking suddenly, then turned around; a moment later, he ran into a mad sprint towards the tree.

At that moment, just like for four years, he needed to see that tree. What in the world was he doing just walking around when he was so close to that tree! When he knew he was close enough, he ran even faster; a moment later, he finally came to the tree, and nearly passed out.

He stumbled when he looked at the tree, it was as beautiful as the last time he saw it; even more with the beautiful royal blue _ribbons_.

There was one huge ribbon tied beautifully around the tree, then up on the branches on the tree, blue ribbons mixed in with the beautiful flowers on the branches.

"Oh my god…" Joey breathed.

"Do you like it Joey?" A voice said from behind him.

Joey whirled around and saw his love; his breath was taken away at the sight of him.

Seto hadn't grown in height at all from what Joey saw, so that made him taller than Seto, which he was very happy about. Seto's eyes were as beautiful as ever, the shade of sapphires, he looked up at Joey with his eyes rimmed with tears; he let his hair grow, and it fell to the small of his back and was held in a loose ponytail. Seto was still skinny, but his body held a slight build. That day, Seto was wearing no trench coat; he was wearing a pair of tight jeans with a beautiful baby blue silk shirt embroidered with blue dragons.

"Seto…" Joey whispered; he placed a hand gently on Seto's cheek and stroked it with a thumb.

Seto let his tears finally fall and dove into Joey's chest, Joey quickly wrapped his arms around Seto.

"Oh Joey, I missed you so much!" Seto said.

Joey pulled Seto from his chest and bent down to kiss him; Seto immediately wrapped his arms around Joey's neck and pulled him down into a stronger kiss. The kiss was heated and held a lot of the passion that was pinned up for all those year; reluctantly, for air, the pair broke it. Joey leaned his forehead against Seto's and looked into his eyes.

"You look so beautiful…" Joey whispered.

"You look so hansom…" Seto whispered.

Joey turned around, still holding onto Seto to look at the tree; Seto's head returned to Joey's chest, he listened closely to Joey's heartbeat.

"How did you do this?" Joey asked.

"It took me most of yesterday and a couple of hours today to complete it." Seto said. "I actually fell out of the tree and nearly broke my leg."

Joey smiled at this.

"You love me that much?" Joey asked.

Seto smiled up at Joey and nodded.

Suddenly, Joey remembered a certain present he had for Seto. Gently, he pulled Seto away from his chest again and settled him in front of him; his lover looked up at him worriedly. Seto gasped and jumped back slightly when Joey dropped to one knee, and pulled out a black velvet box from his pocket. Seto looked down at Joey, with tears filling his eyes, he had always dreamed of that moment, and now, it was happening…

"Seto Kaiba, will you give me the honor of becoming your husband…" Joey said as he opened the box. "Will you marry me?"

Again, Seto was crying, he couldn't believe what was happening, but he managed to nod and speak a little.

"Yes..." Seto whispered. "Yes, of course I'll marry you!"

Joey's eyes rimmed with tears at what Seto said and he gently took the ring out to of the box and slid it slowly onto Seto's finger; the ring was beautiful.

The ring was a custom made piece of beauty. The band was made of platinum and was sculpted into the shape of two serpent dragons, at the back of the ring the dragons' tails intertwined. One dragon had a very small sapphire jewel eye, the other dragon had an amber jewel eye; at the middle of the ring, the dragons were biting onto a beautiful diamond piece. Joey, with the help of his cousins in California, created the ring; despite the amazing fortune that the ring could have cost him, the only thing Joey had to do was work in his cousins jewelry shop, with no pay for the whole summer of the last year; a summer well spent in Joey's opinion.

Joey stood up and grabbed Seto into another hug, then bending down to kiss Seto; that kiss promised that they would be together forever.

The End (Or Is It)

* * *

I know, I know, bad ending! But, I don't think I'm going to leave the story here, I think I'm going to post a sequel soon; something that will most defiantly test the love that Joey and Seto have for each other.

Meanwhile, I would love some reviews!

Please send them!


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